Sunday, August 23, 2009

Unless we are sick, huey-ka mummy will usually bring huey-ka Eliza out, with or without daddy or my in-laws although it is great that they come along as well; more people more fun. Nowadays i crack my head to where we can go to...and i also prefer choosing places where Eliza can run about and play rather than the boring shopping i made her endure today at Expo.

We had a free saturday afternoon to ourselves as Ww's parents were out at Batam and we couldn't figure out where to go. We thought of changi boardwalk but Eliza's meals are kind of early today so doing the walk will mean we'll have dinner somewhere during the walk (not the best scenario). so we thought of checking out Satay by the Bay at Clifford Pier.

Fantastic day, it turned out to be. We 'survived' the mrt ride and explored a bit of Fullerton hotel with Eliza. She loved the Kois at the pond there. and happily checked out the open space here:

We walked down to the Fullerton walk as the shortcut to Clifford Pier was closed for renovation. Went past the merlion...

Strolled the scenic walk by the sea...

Breathed in the salty sea air

and unsuccessfully tried to take a family photo

And eventually settle down at a somewhat scenic but nice outdoor seating area for some satay and super overpriced orange juice in a tiny bottle...we pounced on the satay (Eliza included) so fast i didn't think about taking any photos at all. :P

Thursday, August 20, 2009

It has been busy at work and when i have to OT or work that extra day, i intensely feel that the extra $ i earn is nothing compared to the extra time i spend with Eliza. I so feel like doing what SAHMs do.

These days Eliza will wake up around 6am for milk and knock off to sleep after that. So on most mornings, i'll go to work while she's still fast asleep. So i really hate to reach home late (even if it's like 1/2hour late from my usual time) and miss out on my time with her. Evenings are usually spent on getting her ready for sleep which gets more challenging nowadays with her being even more excited that everyone has come home and there's so many people to play with.

One good thing is that she'll gamely say 'night night' to everyone and follow me into the room. I'm trying to get her to brush her teeth with toothbrush and toothpaste instead of using the cloth to clean them. And so far it has been quite a challenge. On the first time she was excited about her toothbrush, but after that she refused to open her mouth and will run away from me. I don't really want to 'force' it down her throat, and knowing her it'll get worse if i do that. I've read many suggestions but i'm still trying to find the right one that will appeal to her.

Cats are the most real animals around and Eliza's quite happy to make friends with them, but they're not all to friendly and most are fearful of her.

With the understand of what 'mei mei' is (pretty in chinese), she finally would wear her sweet hairband...

And it's not just a short while only! The hairband is still on!She didn't look too much like her in this photo...my sweet girl! :)

The thrill of sitting on the swing...i finally can catch her expression!!

Watching my mil do houswork, Eliza is also learning to do some too. I wonder if she can see the stains on the floor with those sunglasses...

She has also started to help out with some clearing up...like keeping our shoes...not that we wanted to her to do them...

It has been quite a clingy days for her...she'll hug my leg and wouldn't let me go or keep asking you to carry her...i hope it's a phase she'll grow out of.

Some cheeky stuff she does that she finds funny too...sticking the rubber suction thing on her head...i think her ah-gong or daddy must have gotten her to do that

Twisting and turning is still a skill that she's learning...meanwhile, Thomas the train toy will continue to be assembled and taken apart by us, by Eliza's request

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I realized today, while putting Eliza to sleep, that her sleeping patterns have evolved over time. From resisting sleep and clinging on to my mil so that she doesn't need to go to sleep, to now happily saying good night to everyone and marching off to the bedroom. It's really interesting.

I've survived carrying her to sleep, rocking her to sleep, dancing her to sleep in those pre-walking days. I've also survived those struggles in getting her to stay in her bed while she wants to bounce off all 6 sides of the room. I've survived the 1 hour getting her to sleep (usually 30mins playing + 30 mins scratching).

Nowadays bedtime is sightly different. Maybe it's because she somehow has dropped her afternoon nap and by the time i get home at around 730-8pm, she's quite tired enough to sleep. So bedtime lasts on an average of 1/2 hour, at least on 80% of the days she dozes off by the time her lullaby songs reach mid-way or earlier.I guess she also knows it's sleep time anyway, since i would have read to her, prayed with her, reminded her 100x to finish her milk else she'll cry for milk at night and i won't give it to her, turned off the lights and try to lower my voice or not talk at all.

Tonight she has gathered all her bedside friends (Elmo and 3 carebears) + her bolsters while she lay on her tummy and drifted off to lala-land. Before that she'll be flipping off all 4 corners of her bed trying to find a right position, scratching her head/hands/neck/legs, occasionally standing up and saying something, then plopping back to lie down.

Her best position is still to sleep on her tummy, somehow that position seems to minimize her scratching.

However the night times aren't any better, she'll still need to wake up for a stretch of time to scratch scratch scratch. And if i have fallen asleep by then, depending on my state of tiredness, i'm not always the most patient and nice. Because it can last about an hour, i can't be sitting by her bed and patting her or stopping her from scratching; plus cos the scratching comes in waves, she'll scratch, stop and start all over again. In between, i would have dozed off and then get woken up by her whines or demands for me to sit beside her bed. Interestingly, she doesn't want to sleep with us, it would be a better option cos i can be beside her through the scratchy hour but she'll want to get back to her bed! The only time she sleeps with us is when she wakes up at 6am+ for milk and falls back to sleep.

I hope this night itchiness and wakings evolve away so i can have a more peaceful night's sleep.

Still, it is a bliss to have her fall asleep, knowing that she's getting the rest she needs to grow and i can also have some me-time or a nap too!

There are times in the afternoons when she's so tired she'll fall asleep drinking her milk/water. This time was quite an exception, the fever was making her quite tired and drowsy...and somehow drinking water eventually sent her off to lala-land.

When we go out, boring strolls on her stroller during her nap times are perfect for getting her to sleep. Even so, she's still insistent on trying to stay up until sleep overcomes her...well...that's why she is usually found falling asleep like that.

There's something really enjoyable about have a deep good sleep...her leg usually is raised up (kiao1 ka1)...seems like it's more comfortable like that.

This was a rare morning she's still sleeping when both of us are already awake (it was 9am!)So shuang3

Monday, August 10, 2009

With the system down for about 3 weeks there's quite some photos i couldn't post up so some interesting stuff happening in those days....

It's a fantastic thing to be staying near my mum and we try to make it over for a meal every fortnightly. There are days when it pours rain and dogs and so we'll take the sheltered way home (which is a longer walk). Still with rain, it's not too long a walk to complain about. Eliza loves water, so naturally she loves rain!Not recommended by my mil who says that we'll get sick if we get caught in the rain...but playing with some water won't hurt. :PIt's fun!!

Her weekly artwork....or at least it's ours? I used to paste like 6 pieces of A4 papers on the table for us to scribble but now i re-use the A1s from my office that we would have thrown away. Very useful.We're still trying to teach her not to run out of the study with the crayons cos she'll accidentally / deliberately draw somewhere something. Still a lot of training and reminders to go. So far she has made 2 streaks on the living room sofa. The crayons are the Crayola washable ones but still have to pull out the sofa cover to wash :S . She tried it on our glass wall once...and kanna reprimanded by my mil and me.We have two 'vehicles' at home, a car and a scooter. and Eliza has discovered the joy of making us sit on them. It has and is able to withstand the weight of everyone at home, quite strong toys eh?

We went to CVH for lunch to celebrate my fil's birthday and obviously we had to explore everywhere with this little girl who gave me a difficult time by not wanting to really eat her lunch or the buffet food there either.One of the rare times i manage to catch her signing on camera. She's always so fast!Oh and she loves the ice-cream cone. Not too excited about the ice-cream though...Ww told me that while she was playing around the seat somewhere, she kinda fell onto the floor while holding the ice-cream cone and crushed it, looking quite stunned by the whole incident.

One of my fav photos :)

That weekend, Eliza's cousins came over and we had some fun with some cheapo bubbles I bought at the taka toy fair. Of course it drove them all very high. It was so hard to catch them on camera cos they were moving so fast that by the time i managed to snap, they're gone. It doesn't help that the winds that afternoon was really strong and it blew the bubbles all over the place at high speeds.

Friday, August 7, 2009

This is just a 'i am relieved' post cos i can finally post on blogger!!I just 'refreshed browser cache'. (ok i also added singnet proxy etc etc etc cos they say it's a singnet problem) but yeap...i should be finally uploading photos soon!

I'm waiting for my hair to dry before i charge on to sleep and then to a long work day to rush off the drawings before the tender addendum submission date on tuesday (i'm still praying it gets extended) else i have to go back to office on monday to print the 34 A1 drawings!! drive me nuts!

Sigh...i super miss Eliza :( i know many mums do work late or are overseas away from their kids and i'm really blessed to be working 4-day weeks but still....the thought of going to work on friday (and possibly over the weekend and the public holiday) is super unattractive to me.

Just now, when Eliza did her usual night scratches she calls out to ah-ma instead of me...:(